


we can make it!

by kinoface



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shop, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-31
Updated: 2012-08-31
Packaged: 2017-11-13 06:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinoface/pseuds/kinoface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sho is dubious and Ohno doesn't drop a single dish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we can make it!

**Author's Note:**

> I was recently lamenting to Aes that I couldn't get any writing done, so she gave me some prompts and got me to write 2000+ words in one night. :D The prompt for this one: "Ohno's first day of work at a café, and which member of Arashi is his co-worker/superior?"
> 
> THANK YOU TIMES A MILLION, AESLIS-CHAN!

At first Sho had Aiba, and when Aiba left, he had Nino, and now Nino has left as well. Aiba knows Sho's looking for someone new, so he brings a friend by in the evening, when Sho is just getting ready to close up. "This is Oh-chan!" he says, grinning as wide as ever and throwing his arms out to present his friend, who looks bleary-eyed and rumpled. He's wearing a tee-shirt that looks faded from actual wear, not because it was made that way, and the plaid button-down he's got on over it is wrinkled and stained in three places, and his jeans are too long and have holes in the knees. His right shoelace is untied. But Aiba looks hopeful, so Sho pushes his skepticism aside and conducts an on-the-spot interview. Ohno has no experience, he doesn't seem to be sure of where he is ("Aiba-chan, I thought you said we were getting ramen"), and he doesn't even drink coffee.

Sho has been working this place on his own for three weeks ever since Nino left to go to school full-time on scholarship money. Nino was hard-working and quick on his feet and irreplaceable. And Sho is desperate.

"I'll see you in the morning, Ohno-san," he says, smiling because at this point there's nothing else he can do.

~

When Ohno shows up fifteen minutes late, the only thing keeping Sho from regretting his decision is that having Ohno around cannot possibly be worse than having no one.

And he's right: having Ohno around is much, much better.

He looks like he's barely awake, but when Sho is training him - at rapid speed, because they've only been open five minutes and there's already a line out the door - he only needs to be shown everything once, and after that, he's at least as good as Nino was on his first day. Ohno doesn't get a single order wrong, and all the customers seem to love him; by the time Sho sends him into the back room for a break, the tip jar is already half full. That's _better_ than Nino's first day. (Nino was always a bit surly; compared to always-overly-friendly Sho and actually-always-friendly Aiba, he took a while for some of the regulars to get used to.)

The real test is when Jun stops by in the late afternoon. He sets up his laptop at a corner table and sizes Ohno up as he plugs everything in. Sho is busy with a round of lattes, but he sees Jun cross the floor and wait patiently in line, and he hears Jun order his usual iced mocha with soy and just a splash of almond flavor, and he hears Jun chat Ohno up after Ohno rings the order in. It's crowded at this hour, noisy, so Sho can't really make out the conversation they're having, but he hears Ohno's quiet chuff of laughter, and when he turns to place the lattes on the pick-up counter, he sees Jun smile at something Ohno has said.

~

At the end of the day, when it's all said and done, Sho hands Ohno his share of the tips and thanks him for his hard work, and then he locks up and finally, _finally_ gets home, where he gets in the bath and lets himself soak for a while as he thinks about the day. Everything went well - so much better than he was expecting - but when he gets out of the bath and dries off and finds a message from Nino on his phone...

_J says the new guy makes a perfect mocha._

_That's_ when Sho knows he made the right choice.


End file.
